


The Treehouse Tattoo

by FallingInAForest



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Barista Boy Evan, Connor is dead, Evan and Connor dated, Treehouse tattoos, matching tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 17:52:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13792974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingInAForest/pseuds/FallingInAForest
Summary: The Murphy's have been living in a lump of grief for the past 3 months, as the oldest child, Connor Murphy, killed himself. Now Zoe is trying to pick up the pieces of her life, but is forced to unearth memories of Connor when she sees a familiar tattoo on her baristas wrist: The same treehouse tattoo that Connor had, and that she got in his memory. Who is he? And how did he know Connor?





	The Treehouse Tattoo

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is an idea I've had for a while for my own characters, but then the idea hit me to apply it to Dear Evan Hansen, so here goes it!

Zoe picked up her phone, with it's pink case and band-related popsocket, and dialed a familiar number.   
  
"Hello?" The person on the other end of the phone said, picking up on the second ring.   
  
"Hey. It's Zoe. I was wondering if you'd like to catch up over coffee?" She asked, walking around her room, a thing she tended to do while on the phone.   
  
"Yes, of course!" Alana accepted, almost frantically. Due to the fact that it was part of the way through summer vacation already, and Alana signed up for almost everything she could, they hadn't spoken much since school ended. And since they were going to be Freshmen in different colleges, they would have even less time to talk.   
  
"Alright cool. See you there. 15 minutes?" Zoe asked quickly, a smile already building on her face, as it was always nice to talk to friends.   
  
"Y-yeah. See you then!" Alana replied, hanging up the phone. The 15 minutes provided them each a couple of minutes to get ready, and drive there.   
  
On the way to the bathroom to fix her hair, Zoe passed by a room that would remain empty forever, and her heart dropped.   
  
It hurt to pass by his room every single day. It's not like they were close, but Connor was her brother. He meant a lot to her by default.   
  
But now he wasn't here. He had made that choice. He wasn't the best by any means, but that didn't mean he didn't deserve to live.   
  
Zoe blinked away some forming tears as she continued to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth. There was no way she was going to let Connor ruin her day from six feet under.   
  
As she freshened up, she saw a small bit of her tattoo peek out from under her shirt, and she stared at it. It was of a treehouse. She had only gotten it because it was the same own Connor had.   
  
He had wanted tattoos for forever, and aimed to get full sleeves of them, but their parents never approved of the ones he had wanted, and even after he was 18, he didn't get any they didn't approve of. And in the end, there was only one they ever did like: a little treehouse on his wrist.   
  
Growing up, Connor and Zoe always wanted a treehouse where they could play, and Larry thought about building them one, but he never got around to it. And even though it never existed, the pure thought of it was a constant in the family, especially in jokes/remarks.   
  
And so when Cynthia and Larry had seen Connor's concept sketch of a treehouse tattoo, they agreed, which surprised Connor at the time, and so he got it. And when Connor died, Zoe decided to pay tribute to him by getting the same tattoo, but on her shoulder rather than her wrist.   
  
Before she could get even more lost in her head, she put her shoes on and left the house, calling, "Mom, dad, I'm hanging with Alana!"  
  
On the way there, her mind was quiet, unlike the car, as she was blasting the radio. Eventually, however, she arrived at her destination.   
  
When she entered the café, she saw that Alana was already there, and waved at her. Alana perked up once she saw Zoe.   
  
"Long time no see!" She said once Zoe arrived at the table she had reserved for the two of them.   
  
"No kidding," Zoe replied with a smile. "I'm going to order. I'll be right back."  
  
When Zoe reached the counter, she read the nametag of the barista. His name was Evan.   
  
"What can I get you?" He asks, looking nervous as he does so.   
  
"Iced coffee," Zoe says with a smile, and then reaches in her purse to grab the money for it.   
  
"One iced coffee!" Evan proclaims to the other worker, who quickly begins making it.   
  
In no time, Zoe pays and receives her drink. But when Evan reaches across the counter to hand it to her, Zoe notices something peeking out of Evan's sleeve.  
  
It's part of a tattoo. One that's extremely familiar to her. It should be, especially if she herself has it on her shoulder.   
  
"U-uhm," Zoe says, caught off guard. "Can I see that tattoo on your wrist?"   
  
And Evan seems equally as caught off guard by her question, "Y-yeah. S-sure," he says, rolling up his sleeve to reveal the full treehouse.   
  
"Oh my God," She whispers without meaning to. It was an exact replica. And that meant that Evan had to have known Connor. Not even just that, but he had to have been close to him.   
  
"I-is there something wrong, miss?" Evan asks uncomfortably, shifting his body slightly.   
  
But Zoe doesn't know how to explain it, so she simply and silently lowers her sleeve to reveal the same tattoo on her shoulder.   
  
As she does so, Evan's eyes widen, shocked. "A-are you Zoe?" He asks, setting down the iced coffee.   
  
To that she nods. "Yeah, I am. Can we, uh, talk?"   
  
"Yeah. One second," Evan says, and then calls. "Penny! I'm going on break."   
  
In response, the girl who made the iced coffee switches over to the counter, replacing Evan as he and Zoe head over to the table where Alana is sitting.   
  
"Alana," Zoe says. "This is Evan."  
  
"Oh?" She questions.   
  
"He knew Connor," Zoe clarifies, and suddenly Alana knows exactly why he is at their table.   
  
Zoe looked at Evan again, and wondered why he knew her name, but she didn't know him. Had Connor talked about her?   
  
"Y-yeah," Evan says. "B-but we haven't talked, in like 6 months."   
  
And then Zoe's eyes widen, as she realizes that he doesn't know that Connor is dead. She looks to Alana for what she should do, and Alana nods at her, signaling that she needs to tell him.   
  
So she clears her throat. "Actually, Evan. My brother is dead."  
  
And so Evan's eyes widen once again, as he says, "He's what?"   
  
"He killed himself three weeks ago," Zoe continues, shifting her body uncomfortably.   
  
In response, Evan stares blankly at the ground, without any ideas of how to respond to news like that.   
  
With the both of them looking as though they could blankly stare for the rest of their lives, Alana steps in. "So, I think you can figure that Zoe would like to hear about how you and Connor knew each other. Unless you're not comfortable with sharing."  
  
With Alana's words, Evan snaps out of his silence and says, "Right. Yes. Of course. So..."  
  
"So?" Zoe asks.   
  
"Well," Evan says, biting his lip in a dilemma. "I don't know... exactly how much you knew about Connor."  
  
"What do you mean?" Zoe asks. "He was my brother."  
  
"Right. S-sorry," Evan says. "Well, Connor and I dated."  
  
"Oh," Zoe says, suddenly understanding Evan's hesitation to tell her. "D-does that mean he was gay?"  
  
"Yeah," Evan says. "He's gay. Or, uh, _was_."  
  
For a moment, Zoe stays silent, processing this new information.   
  
"So how did you know my name?" She finally asks. "D-did he talk about me?"  
  
"Did he talk about you?" Evan repeats, before shaking his head in amusement. "He never stopped."  
  
"...Really?" Zoe asks, thrown off. What did Connor say about her? Why did he talk about her? He hated her. Right? "What about?"   
  
"Lots of things," Evan says. "He talked about your smile a lot."  
  
"My smile?" Zoe asked, confused.   
  
"Yeah. He'd say there's nothing like your smile. Sort of subtle, and perfect, and real," Evan began. "And that you didn't know how special your smile could make someone feel."   
  
"He... said all that? My brother?" Zoe asked, processing everything Evan was saying.  
  
"He always regretted not being able to make you smile more often. He'd..." Evan began, but somewhere along the way, his voice clouded, and he had to clear his throat. By this point, it was quite obvious that tears were forming in both of their eyes. "He'd always say that that was his biggest flaw. Not being capable of making you happy."   
  
That part bit made Zoe use her sleeve to dry her eyes. She wouldn't let tears fall. She promised herself that years ago. That he wouldn't make her cry anymore.  
  
But when there was a death involved, the rules were different. Tears were always present, especially now that she knew that he talked about her.   
  
A moment of silent passes, and Evan clears his throat once more. "I-I should get back to work."  
  
"Y-yeah, of course. Go ahead." Zoe says, but then Evan pulls out a Post-it note and scribbles his number down, in a glitterypurple pen.   
  
"If you need to hear more, reach out." Evan says with a weak smile.   
  
And so Zoe nods. Because she will. She knows she will. She opened Pandoras box of questions about Connor.   
  
When he was alive, he wasn't a very open person about his life. He left the house often back in high school, rarely ever saying where he was off to, and in college, there was no telling what he wa doing.   
  
Zoe hadn't even known that he was gay. Not even that, but that he had a boyfriend ad well. Or ex-boyfriend at least.   
  
"Sorry for all of that," Zoe apologized to Alana, before her brain took her on too much of a trip.   
  
"It's okay, I get it," Alana says with a smile. "There's always next time."   
  
In response, Zoe nodded, and was about to head out, but as she did so, Evan called out to her.   
  
"Hey, Zoe!"   
  
"Yeah?" She called back.   
  
"He thought you were awesome. Just know that."  
  
And so her head was spinning once again. Awesome? Did he really think that?   
  
Now Zoe knew what she had to do: Go into Connor's room. Nobody had dared to since he died, scared of the memories that would be unearthed. But now, Zoe was curious as to what secrets of his she could unlock. What else was he hiding?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for everyone who gave this a try! If over the duration of the chapter, you had any comments or such about this work, please tell me! If love to hear them :)


End file.
